Mental Health in the 1930s People with mental disabilities were viewed much differently in the 1930s than today. Back then they were treated like the scum of the Earth and were rarely allowed anything in life. There has only been help for mental illness for around 70 years. It has been a problem for the lives of many since the beginning of time. In the 1930s it was just starting to get recognized. How Mental Health was Viewed First, while being looked on as the lowest members of society, mental patients had nothing short of a terrible life. Even relatives of the mentally ill were not treated right because of the conditions that their family member had. They were called “stupid” or “crazy.” Since they were looked on as animals, that is how they were treated. They had no human rights. “People with mental disabilities in 1930s America were treated very unsympathetically...were thought of as a 'burden to society'.” (“Disabilities in 1930's America” Melville-au). The worst part was that there was little cure. …show more content…
Lobotomy's, hydrotherapy, Metrazol convulsion, and insulin shock therapy, were popular ways of attempted treatment. A lobotomy is brain surgery that involves severing the connection between the frontal lobe and other parts of the brain. "Patients were generally on treatment twice a week... treatment patients were rounded up by the cry. Begging, pleading, crying, and resisting.” (“New Treatment” sos.mo.gov). Most were in and out of hospitals or spent their entire lives inside them. How People with Mental Illness